FAA and Regs

A new report this month from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) says the Federal Aviation Administration lacked effective management controls over the “project level agreements (PLAs)—an internal control mechanism for documenting the agreed-upon work and managing project execution” for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). This program was implemented to meet the […]

The FAA is expanding a program that will provide “near real-time” processing of requests for access to controlled airspace from drone operators, the agency said on Tuesday. A prototype system that was deployed last November has performed successfully, the FAA said, and the agency will now conduct a nationwide beta test, beginning April 30, that […]

Nine advocacy groups representing general aviation interests wrote to members of Congress this week urging support for the FAA’s contract tower program. About $172 million in funding is needed for the 254 towers now in the program, plus several new towers that are expected to be added in the next fiscal year, according to the […]

Six months after announcing the move, the FAA’s reorganization of its flight standards (AFS) and certification services (AIR) became official as of March 5. The agency has been running those operations under the new regime since last August but the rule that enshrines the reorganization in the regulations became effective March 5. The reorganization eliminates […]

Rep. Sam Graves’s office says they first heard that he was being considered to head the FAA in news reports last week. The long-time Missouri Republican, pilot and co-chair of the House general aviation caucus, was among three short-listed candidates named by Axios in a story last week that focused on President Donald Trump’s alleged […]

With pilot friends like this, who needs Comedy Central? The pilot of an experimental RV-6 in Michigan told a friend to get to the beach and watch for his flyby. As promised the sleek two-seater buzzed at 100 feet, made three passes—one is never enough—pulled up in a steep turn, stalled and hit the water, […]

Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., has announced he is no longer pursuing the separation of air traffic control from the FAA. After a couple of attempts and massive opposition from hundreds of groups with a stake in aviation, Shuster,House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman, conceded Tuesday his bill doesn’t have the support to pass. “Despite an […]

The $100 billion that has been proposed in the federal budget to fund the privatization of air traffic control should be spent on modernization and technology upgrades instead, nearly 250 advocacy groups said in a letter to Congress (PDF) released on Tuesday. The groups represent not only aviation advocates but also labor unions, consumer groups […]

News site Axios is reporting that President Donald Trump is promoting his longtime personal pilot as the next administrator of the FAA. Quoting unnamed administration sources, Axios, a relatively new news service made up mainly of ex-newspaper staff, said John Dunkin, who flew Trump’s personal Boeing 757 during the 21-month campaign, has been interviewed and […]

For more than 20 years, administrations on both sides of the aisle have proposed some form of ATC privatization for reasons ranging from ideological purity to hoped-for cost savings and increased efficiency. There was never hard evidence to support the savings and efficiency argument, despite the FAA’s historic snail-like speed in accomplishing major revisions to […]